logo
A 15-year-old boy with no criminal history ended up at Alligator Alcatraz after rush to fill facility

A 15-year-old boy with no criminal history ended up at Alligator Alcatraz after rush to fill facility

Independent18-07-2025
Authorities detained a 15-year-old boy without a criminal record at Alligator Alcatraz amid the haste to fill up the Florida facility, according to reports.
As the state scrambled to open the controversial detention center, Alexis, the teenager, seems to have been caught up in the mix. On July 1, three days before the facility officially opened, Florida Highway Patrol stopped a vehicle packed with Alexis and his friends before handing him over to federal authorities, the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times first reported.
Alexis endured three days in the rapidly built facility consisting of tents and chain-link pens, his father told the Tampa Bay Times.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management, which oversees the facility, admitted he had been detained, explaining he lied about his age when officers stopped him.
'While at Alligator Alcatraz, an individual disclosed they had misrepresented their age upon arrest to ICE. Immediate action was taken to separate and remove the detainee in accordance with federal protocols,' a spokesperson for the division told The Independent in a statement. 'This is one of many problems with illegal immigration: individuals are in our country without any way to verify their identity.'
Three days after he was detained, on July 4, authorities transferred the boy from Alligator Alcatraz to a shelter for migrant children that is operated by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
State officials told the outlet that Alligator Alcatraz doesn't house minors. It's unclear what steps are being taken to prevent something similar from happening in the future. The Independent has reached out to a spokesperson for the governor's office for more information.
The episode captures the chaos around the facility's opening. Alligator Alcatraz, constructed to help accelerate President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, was meant to hold the 'most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet," the president said. As of this week, the facility holds more than 700 people, but only one-third of them have criminal convictions, reports found.
'The case is important to highlight to ensure that there is oversight and safeguards in place because an adult facility is not a place for a child,' immigration attorney Alexandra Manrique Alfonso told the Times.
The 15-year-old was handcuffed while being transferred to the facility, Manrique Alfonso said, noting that he had been housed with adults.
Ignacio, the teen's father, told the Times that he believes his son told authorities he was an adult when the car was pulled over because he was afraid of being separated from the group if he mentioned his true age: 'It was because of fear.'
Ignacio only learned his son was detained after one of the teen's friends called from the facility — three days later. Alexis later called his father, who told him to come clean to officials that he was a minor. Ignacio then sent a photo of Alexis' birth certificate via text and told his son to ask for permission to use his phone to prove his age; he was transferred after they confirmed his age, the outlet reported.
Now, Ignacio is trying to reunite with Alexis. He's even taking a paternity test.
'It is very sad that a lot of families are being separated,' he told the outlet. The father came to the U.S. in 2018 after fleeing his hometown of Chiapas, Mexico due to violence; his son followed him to Florida two years later, the outlet reported.
'When you're apart from your kids, you miss them. If you don't see them, you feel their absence,' the father told the Times. 'I am pleading with God that we can be reunited.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

French ministers say EU-US trade deal has merits but is also unbalanced
French ministers say EU-US trade deal has merits but is also unbalanced

Reuters

time2 hours ago

  • Reuters

French ministers say EU-US trade deal has merits but is also unbalanced

PARIS, July 28 (Reuters) - French government ministers said a framework trade deal between the United States and European Union had some merits - such as exemptions for some key French business sectors such as spirits - but was nevertheless unbalanced. "The trade agreement negotiated by the European Commission with the United States will bring temporary stability to economic actors threatened by the escalation of American tariffs, but it is unbalanced," wrote French European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad on X. That view was echoed by France's industry minister Marc Ferracci, who said more talks - which could last weeks or months - would be needed before the deal could be formally concluded. Ferracci told RTL radio that more needed to be done in terms of rebalancing the EU's trade relations with the U.S. "This is not the end of the story," Ferracci told RTL.

Sir Keir should not emulate Hugh Grant
Sir Keir should not emulate Hugh Grant

Telegraph

time3 hours ago

  • Telegraph

Sir Keir should not emulate Hugh Grant

His feet had barely touched British soil before Donald Trump started swinging his big stick. 'You better get your act together or you're not going to have Europe anymore,' he lambasted his Western allies after arriving in Scotland to visit his golf courses (not for the 47th president, concerns about second jobs). 'You've got to stop this horrible invasion that is happening to Europe, many countries in Europe… this immigration is killing Europe.' Setting aside the rights and wrongs of British immigration policy, our beleaguered Prime Minister would be forgiven for feeling a little peeved. What other American president would have presumed to blend personal and state business so brazenly and deliver such insulting rhetoric into the bargain? Amid social unrest in Epping, Reform on the march and small boats arrivals up by a staggering 50 per cent, immigration is Sir Keir's Achilles' heel. With his approval ratings at rock bottom, the last thing he needed was a punishment beating from Trump. Certainly, Sir Keir's backbenchers will be begging him to stand up to the Donald, if only to appease their voters in places like Ashton-under-Lyne, where many may be tempted by the Corbyn-Sultana cult or a Gaza Independent at the next election. Did Sir Sadiq Khan recommend that the Prime Minister reprise the 20ft Trump 'baby blimp' that he authorised to be flown above Parliament during the presidential visit of 2018? I wouldn't be surprised. And he wouldn't have been the only one. In the Left-wing mind, the 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually looms disproportionately large. This is for the sake of one scene alone. In it, Hugh Grant – whom most progressives, particularly those of a Liberal Democrat persuasion, wish was the prime minister in real life – upbraids the American president at a press conference. 'I fear that this has become a bad relationship; a relationship based on the president taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to Britain,' Grant lectures his opposite number, played by Billy Bob Thornton. 'We may be a small country, but we're a great one, too… and a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward I will be prepared to be much stronger. And the president should be prepared for that.' Forgive me for quoting that Richard Curtis idiocy at such length. But that is precisely what Guardianista-in-chief Polly Toynbee did in a petulant little column before Sir Keir's visit to the White House in February, under the screaming headline: 'Starmer has the backing of Britons to stand up to Trumpism.' I rest my case. But does he? When it comes to immigration, the opposite would appear to be the case. Although 55 per cent of Labour voters want the numbers to stay the same or go up, polls show that most of the population wishes them very much reduced, with 32 per cent viewing immigration as a 'bad' or 'very bad' thing. Small boats get people's backs up even more. For all his braggadocio and swagger, the sorry truth is that on this issue, Donald Trump speaks for a greater number of Britons than our own prime minister. For this reason, Sir Keir would be best advised to tell his backbenchers to pipe down. Trump's big stick has caused the PM enough pain already. Tweaking the orange tail might play well to certain parts of the gallery but after a year of economic mismanagement, we are hardly able to withstand the tariffs with which Trump would surely retaliate. Whatever Hugh Grant may think.

Several US executives to visit China this week: sources
Several US executives to visit China this week: sources

Reuters

time3 hours ago

  • Reuters

Several US executives to visit China this week: sources

BEIJING, July 28 (Reuters) - A high-level delegation of American executives will travel to China this week to meet senior Chinese officials in a trip organised by the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC), two sources with knowledge of the visit told Reuters on Monday. The visit coincides with the latest round of U.S.‑China trade negotiations in Sweden, where China's Vice Premier He Lifeng is meeting U.S. officials from July 27 to July 30 for a new round of economic and trade talks. The delegation will be led by FedEx (FDX.N), opens new tab Chief Executive Rajesh Subramaniam, the council's board chair, one of the sources briefed on the trip said. The South China Morning Post first reported the visit on Sunday, saying that executives from firms including Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab would be part of the delegation. Reuters could not confirm other CEO members of the delegation or which Chinese officials they would meet. Boeing declined to comment on the trip and deferred to USCBC. The U.S. government was not involved in the organisation of the visit, one of the sources said. The trip comes as Beijing and Washington work towards a summit between the two countries' leaders later this year, probably around the time of the APEC forum in South Korea October 26 - November 1, sources previously told Reuters. USCBC did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The business lobby previously organised similar visits to China by American CEO delegations in 2023 and 2024. The 2024 trip, also led by Subramaniam, included meetings with He and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, where executives discussed issues including market access. China faces an August 12 deadline to reach a durable deal with the White House or risk higher U.S. tariffs. U.S. officials are likely to extend the deadline by another 90 days as both sides work towards a more comprehensive deal, sources previously told Reuters. An extension of that length would prevent further escalation and help create conditions for the potential meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store